Teaching Tips and Games - Free
Comprehension Games to use with very beginning readers

Sunday
Cartoons

Teacher notes from Dr. Cupp:

The January/February/March 2003 edition of Reading Research Quarterly (Volume 38, Number 1) has a great research study on using wordless books to
help beginning readers develop comprehension strategies and oral language.
The title of this research article is “Assessing Narrative Comprehension in
Young Children.”

Problem:
In order to implement many of the strategies mentioned in this article, the
teacher needs wordless books. I have found it both expensive and difficult
to find a large selection of books without words.

Solution:
The cartoon section in most Sunday papers is in color. Ask your friends and
family to save the Sunday cartoon section for you each week. If your largest
reading group has eight students, you will need eight copies of the cartoons
each week.

In
the cartoon section of last week’s Atlanta Journal and Constitution, I
found three cartoons I considered appropriate to use with five-and six-year-
olds to develop oral language and comprehension strategies. The cartoon
should show a story line that the young child can follow. One cartoon had a
few words. I used white out and eliminated the words.

Steps for preparing the cartoons:

1. Read the cartoons and
decide the ones appropriate for your students. Cut out the cartoons you have
selected, glue the cartoon on cardstock and place a number in the box of each
picture segment of the cartoon. For example: If the cartoon is divided into
six segments, then number each segment beginning with one in the first box and
ending with the number six in the last box. By placing a number in each box
of each cartoon, you can discuss with the student what is happening in that
particular box.

2.Laminate your cartoons for the week and place them in an 8x10 mailing
envelope with one copy of the cartoon pasted on the outside of the envelope.
Place a number on your new Cartoon Comprehension Activity.

Steps to use during instruction:

1. Give each student in
the group a copy of the cartoon.

2. Have students look at
each picture from the beginning of the cartoon to the end.

3. Tell students there
are many possible stories that describe the cartoon. Students need to know
there is not one right answer.

4. Each student takes a
turn telling what he or she thinks is happening in the picture.

5.Variation – The teacher may have students cut the cartoons in segments
and put the cartoon back together back again.

Oral Fluency Practice

If students are not fluent readers, the
following suggestions might be helpful:

1. “Sing” Hop’n Pop - When students practice
saying their words during Hop’n Pop, ask them to sort of sing the words. Their
voices should not stop between words.

2. Tape record reading - Tape record
students individually reading a paragraph from Dr. Cupp Readers® booklet.
Students should practice the paragraph and then tape record their reading
again.

3. Echo reading – One student reads the
paragraph or sentence. The teacher calls on the next student to echo back or
re-read the text.

4. Buddy Reading - Students take turns
reading the paragraph to a buddy.

5. Reading for an audience – Students think
of a situation where they might orally read in front of an audience, brother,
sister, etc. Students practice reading and then actually read in front of an
audience.

Comprehension Games and Teaching Tips

Beat the Tiger

Beat
the Tiger is a game we play for comprehension. The following cheer is a new
twist for the game:

As
students practice reading stories, the teacher records the score for Beat
the Tiger. The goal of the game is for the kids to earn all the points,
and the Tiger to have a score of zero. If the Tiger does not get any points
on pages 2 or 3, students and the teacher have reason to celebrate. Reading
success is based on hard work and many opportunities to celebrate successes.
A celebration for two days of no points for the Tiger might include: The
successful group members stand in front of the entire class holding a pompom.
The class does the Beat the Tiger Cheer in honor of the successful
group.

If students are not fluent readers, the
following suggestions might be helpful:

1. “Sing” Hop’n Pop - When students practice
saying their words during Hop’n Pop, ask them to sort of sing the words. Their
voices should not stop between words.

2. Tape record reading - Tape record
students individually reading a paragraph from Dr. Cupp Readers® booklet.
Students should practice the paragraph and then tape record their reading
again.

3. Echo reading – One student reads the
paragraph or sentence. The teacher calls on the next student to echo back or
re-read the text.

4. Buddy Reading - Students take turns
reading the paragraph to a buddy.

5. Reading for an audience – Students think
of a situation where they might orally read in front of an audience, brother,
sister, etc. Students practice reading and then actually read in front of an
audience.

6. Modeling by the teacher – The teacher
listens to the student read. The teacher then reads the text back to the
student. The student rereads the text to the teacher.

Catch
on to Reading by Mandy Walker

This
is a game that can be used all year long to increase fluency in reading.

Objective: To help students gain
fluency in reading.

Materials: Fish bowl, marker,
and foam shaped fish (these can be found on the scrapbook isle at Wal-Mart)

Players: 3-6

How to Play:
If the student reads his/her Jack and Jilly story with accuracy and fluency
they will be able to put their name onto a foam fish and drop it into the fish
bowl. At the end of the day, the teacher will draw a name out of the fish
bowl and that student will receive a prize from the prize box. (Small treats
that have been placed in our Treasure Tub)

Objective: To help students’ transition from reading words on cards or on
lists to reading words in text.

Why
will this game help some students? If students have been practicing sight
words using index cards or word lists, some students have trouble reading the
same words if the words are placed side-by-side on a page of reading text.
Students are not accustomed to seeing the sight word with other words coming
before or after. In order to help students make this transition,
Side-by-Side™ Hop’n Pop has been helpful for some students.

Material needed:

Timer and Side-by-Side™ Hop’n Pop practice sheet.

Steps to make this game:

1. Select the sight words students will
practice.

2. Make a Side-by-Side™ Hop’n Pop
practice sheet (see below). Line one has four spaces between each word; line
two has three spaces between each word; line three has two spaces; and lines
four and five have one space.

3. Each student has a copy of the
Side-by-Side™ Hop’n Pop practice sheet. One child is selected to read the
lines. The teacher sets the timer for 30 seconds and the selected student
tries to beat the 30 seconds. If the student can read all words in 30
seconds, the student catches Hop’n Pop. Each child in the group will have a
turn.

Side-by-Side™ Hop’n Pop

1.mycatcanseeyouCan

2.youcatmyseecanCanYou

3. can you cat You see my Can

4. Can you see my cat?

5. You can see my cat.

Student’s name_______________________

Directions:
Set the timer for 30 seconds. Students try to read all the words in 30
seconds. There are 30 words. Enter the number of words read within 30
seconds. Begin in box one and write the score for the first attempt at
reading all 30 words. Continue to enter the score in boxes 2-10 or until they
can read all 30 words in 30 seconds.

Pop-It-To-Me is designed to provide a fun way to practice alphabet letter
names, letter sounds, and basic sight words. It may also be used to teach
punctuation marks as well as math facts or any information you would like for
students to know automatically.

The teacher needs 8 blank index cards. These eight cards will be called Pop
Cards. The teacher writes the following on the Pop Cards:

2
cards – write the word Letters

2
cards – write the word Sounds

2
cards- write the word Words

2
cards – write the words Wiggle and Jiggle (both words on each card)

These Pop Cards are folded and placed in a
container. In Step 3, students will take turns drawing a Pop Card from the
container.

Practice Cards - The teacher
will need to make three decks of Practice Cards. The teacher will need a deck
with letters, one with sounds, and one with sight words.

Steps to play the game

1.All students sing the Pop-It-To-Me song and make the hand signs.

Note: In future lessons, this
song will be the “hook” to help students understand punctuation marks. During
this lesson, the terms: period, question mark and exclamation mark are not
used.

Before the lesson begins, the teacher writes the following on chart paper:

Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me Now.

Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me How?

Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me WOW!

The teacher “sings” the first line of the
song, and the students sing the line back.

The teacher “sings” the second line of the song, and the students sing
the line back.

The teacher “sings” the third line of the
song, and the students sing the line back.

The teacher then repeats the song. The students sing back each line
to the teacher.

“Now, I am going to teach you how to make a new hand motion at the end of
each sentence. When you say the word Now, I want you to make a fist
with one hand and place it in the palm of the other hand.” Students
will make their fist look like a period.

“Now, when we sing the word How, I want you to shrug your shoulders
and make your hands go palm up.” Students look like they don’t know
the answer when someone asks them a question.

“Now, when we sing the word WOW, I want you to raise one arm like
you are saying YES! Students will look like they are an exclamation
mark.

The
teacher and students repeat the song with the hand motions.

2.After singing the song, a selected student draws a Pop Card from the
container. There are 8 Pop Cards to choose from (see 1 above). When the
first student draws a Pop Card from the container, the teacher will read what
is on the card, and all students will participate in the answer. Example: If
the first student draws a Pop Card that says Sounds, then the teacher
picks up the card deck that has the sounds the students have learned and all
students say the sounds for letters. If the next student draws the Pop Card
that says Letters, the teacher picks up the card deck that has the
letters the students have learned and the students say the names of the
letters. If the next student draws the Pop Card that says Words, the
teacher picks up the card deck with all the sight words the students have
learned, and the students say the sight words. If the Wiggle and Jiggle
Pop Card is drawn, the students stand up and wiggle and jiggle.

3.All Pop Cards are put back in the container, and the game then starts
again. The students sing Pop-It-To-Me and four more students are
selected to draw Pop Cards.

Old
Friends and New Friends

When the PayDay Updates came in
for September, I saw that the kindergarten sight words scores at Cleveland
soared. I called the folks at Cleveland and asked them what they were doing
to cause such an increase in sight words. Cleveland teachers responded with
the following idea that they call “Old Friends and New Friends.”

When
students start Story 1 in Dr. Cupp Readers®, they are presented with a
“reading box.” The reading box is a plain VHS
tape container. A poem (see below) and a silver ring are place
inside the reading box. After introducing the first four sight words
(Jack, Jilly, can, play), the words are written on index cards and placed on
the child’s silver ring. The reading box goes home every night Monday –
Thursday for practice. As a student passes Hop’n Pop and moves on to a new story,
four new words are added to the ring. By the time a student reaches Story 30,
he or she will have 115 words on the ring.

The
reading boxes are color coded by the students’ small (reading) group.
Some boxes have purple labels (average/on-grade level readers), some have
yellow labels (slower readers), and some have orange labels (higher
readers). I use the boxes during reading instruction at least one time
each week. By Story 6, students have enough words
on the ring to begin making simple sentences. We use the cards for many
different activities. The reading box is a wonderful assessment
tool as
well. At the end of each nine-week period, I assess each student on all cards
on his or her ring. This makes report cards very easy.

POEM: “Now That I
Can Read”

I used to need somebody,

to sit and read to me.

I’d look on every page they read

and listen carefully.

But now that I am in Kindergarten,

I’m filling up a shelf.

With stories, poems, and other books

that I can read myself.

-Author Unknown

Christy Kable, Sara Harp Minter Elementary
School, Fayette County

I
was working with teachers at Sara Harp Minter Elementary School in Fayette
County when Christy Kable shared this idea with me. Instead of just saying
the words on Hop’n Pop’s page, her students sing these words to the tune of
“Happy Birthday.” The teachers in training tried this, and we had a great
time. We even sang sight words to “Row, row, row your boat!”

From
Christy Kable:

Here
is my idea about singing the Hop'n Pop words to the tune of "Happy
Birthday." I use this tune because you can sing it a little slower if
needed. If the tune runs out on word #19 on Hop’n Pop’s page, then we start
it over immediately. In other words, we keep singing and singing and
singing. We may go through the words 6 or 7 times and the children don't even
realize it. They absolutely love doing this and it's a fun change-up from
just saying the words over and over. Plus all children succeed! The pictures
above show my children happily singing Hop'n Pop words.

Christy Kable, Sara Harp Minter Elementary, Fayette County

Game - Hop’n Stop

This is a game variation for Hop’n Pop.
Students work as a team to catch Hop’n Pop in their reading groups.

Preparation: The teacher needs a timer and a list of sight words.

Steps:

1. The timer is set for the Goal Time for
saying the sight words.

2. The timer is started and the first child
goes down the first list of words and says as many words as possible. If the
student makes an error, the teacher stops the child and helps the student
correct the error. The next student then picks up where the first student was
stopped. The second student says as many sight words as possible until an
error is made. When the second student makes an error, the error is corrected
and the game is picked up by the next student.

3. Students continue to say the words as
quickly as possible until either the timer goes off or the word list is
completed and the Goal Time is met.

4. If the students beat the timer, they
catch Hop’n Pop! If one student says all the words without missing a word,
then the team gets a bonus point. The game continues until all students have
a turn.

Sight Word Games and Teaching Tips

1. Variation for Hop’n Pop

Usually, students are recognized when they catch Hop’n Pop. Try this
variation: All students attempt to catch Hop’n Pop on the first round. The
scores are recorded. Students are told a prize will be given to the student
who can improve the most. Award a special prize to the student who increases
his or her score the most. A prize might be leading the line, a smiley face
drawn on his or her paper, etc.

This
great idea is from Adairsville Elementary in Adairsville, Georgia. To make a
strong connection between mathematics and reading, graph the Hop’n Pop words.
When students learn five new words, they can color in a box on their graph.

Joe

T.J.

Faith

Sonia

Mimi

100

95

90

85

80

75

70

65

60

55

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

3. Buddy Hop’n Poppers

Buddy Hop’n Poppers – If students need a little motivation, the teacher may
invite the class to join the Buddy Hop’n Poppers Club. The teacher will
assign each student a Buddy. Buddies work together during the day to learn
their sight words. Each time either one of the Buddies catches Hop’n Pop,
they get to color in a point.

Buddy Hop’n Poppers

Buddy Hop’n Poppers

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

John and Tom

Sue and Tasha

T.J. and Monte

Feature School of the Month:
Rosemont Elementary, Troup County

Hello,

Rosemont Elementary is proud to be featured as the Spotlight School for the
Jack and Jilly Reading program. The Kindergarten classes use the program
everyday in a small group setting. We would like to share some ideas to make
sound blending or reading sight words exciting for your
students.

Sight Words:

BANG!:
Write your Jack and Jilly sight words on cards and place in a bag. Write the
word BANG! on several cards and place in the bag also. Pass the bag around the
small group. The child selects a card and reads the word. If the word is read
correctly, the child may keep the card. If a BANG! card is drawn, the child
must put all the cards back in the bag. At the end of the game, the child with
the most cards wins the game! They love it!!!

*Write high and low on either side of a poker chip or any type of disc.

Swat It:
Place Cupp Cards on reading table. Ask a child to swat the word: ? !
The child gets one cube for swatting the word and two cubes if the child can
use it in a sentence. Count cubes at the end of the game.

Catch Hop’n Pop

In
order to “Catch Hop’n Pop,” students try to beat the timer. If you would like
to try a different way to play the game, try this suggestion:

1. Do not limit the amount of time or errors
the student makes on the Hop’n Pop page. The timer begins at zero and
continues to count the number of seconds until the student says all the words
on the designated page. The student’s score is the total amount of time taken
to say all the words plus the number of errors. The score is written in the
box at the bottom of the page. For example: The student takes 24 seconds to
say the words, and the student makes 4 errors. The score is written as 24-4.

2.The student continues to practice saying the words with a goal of
improving the Goal Time by at least two seconds

Carol Chambers - Huddleston Elementary School, Fayette County

While visiting at Huddleston Elementary School in Fayette County I heard a
cheer the teachers use to begin the Hop’n Pop Cheer Cards. The “pom poms” are
called “cheer sticks.” Carol Chambers writes, “The students and teachers with
Cheer Sticks shaking all yell, ‘We’re not cheerleaders, we are word readers!’”

Jennifer Rigsby - Daughtry Elementary
School, Butts County

Jennifer Rigsby of Daughtry Elementary School in Butts County added to the
Hop’n Pop Cheer by ending the cheer with “My turn, Your turn.” She turns the
Hop’n Pop Cheer cards down so students can’t see the words and says, “My
turn….J-A-C-K.” Then she looks at the students and says, “Your turn.” The
students then spell Jack without seeing the word.

Hop’n Stop

This is a game variation for Hop’n Pop.
Students work as a team to catch Hop’n Pop in their reading groups.

Preparation: The teacher needs a timer and a list of sight words.

Steps:

1. The timer is set for the Goal Time for
saying the sight words.

2. The timer is started and the first child
goes down the first list of words and says as many words as possible. If the
student makes an error, the teacher stops the child and helps the student
correct the error. The next student then picks up where the first student was
stopped. The second student says as many sight words as possible until an
error is made. When the second student makes an error, the error is corrected
and the game is picked up by the next student.

3. Students continue to say the words as
quickly as possible until either the timer goes off or the word list is
completed and the Goal Time is met.

4. If the students beat the timer, they
catch Hop’n Pop! If one student says all the words without missing a word,
then the team gets a bonus point. The game continues until all students have
a turn.

Games and ActivitiesFinding
Nemo – The rules are the same as the Race Track Game. I printed
Dory, Marlin and Nemo from the computer. I just entered “Disney Clipart” into
the search engine. I hot glued Dory and Marlin to linking cubes for markers.
It’s so easy to prepare, yet the kids think they have a brand new game. You
can use any type of cartoon that is popular at the time.

Scooby Doo
(The Ruth Game)-I got the basic idea for this game from
www.TheSmartieZone.com. The pictures of Scooby Doo and FREE cards are
available there. I took cards from the Phonics Toolbox or Cheer Cards. I
used the cards for the phonics skill or sight words a group was working on. I
taped a picture of Scooby Doo on two of the cards and FREE on two of the
cards.

Spread the cards out face down on the floor or table. The children take turns
choosing a card. If the student can read the card he keeps it. If he cannot
read the card he throws it back in the pile. If the student draws the FREE
card he keeps it. If the Scooby Doo card is drawn everyone says, “Rut Roh!”
(like Scooby saying “Uh-Oh”) and the child throws all of his cards back into
the pile. At the end of the game the child with the most cards wins.

Hop ‘n Pop

Read
the Room

Peer Tutoring

Turkey, Turkey
- Use either Cheer Cards or Phonics Toolbox cards. Tape a picture of a
turkey to two cards. Spread the cards on the floor or table face down. Go
around the group drawing and reading cards. When the Turkey card is drawn all
the students stand up, spin around and say, “Gobble, gobble, gobble!” The
teacher says, “Turkeys Sit!” and everyone sits down. This is similar to
Wiggle and Jiggle and could be used with sound and letter cards as well.
Change the Turkey from month to month for the seasons. You could use Santa,
reindeer, leprechauns, etc. You can also use different animals and plants to
correlate with other subject areas being studied.

Pop-It-Pop-It!
by Margie Snow

The
teacher will have index cards made up with sight words from the Jack and Jilly
lesson. The students will be divided into two groups, (A-team and B-team). A
player from each team will start the game. The teacher will lay one card down
at a time on the table and the student must hit the table and say the word
correctly in a matter of seconds. If that student cannot say the correct
word, the opponent has a free try. Each student keeps the cards that he/she
says correctly. At the end of the game the cards are counted. The team with
the most points is rewarded. (This game is a little like Slap Jack)

Ice
the Competition
by Heather Edwards

Objective: This game will help students with recognizing sight words or phonics
skills.

Materials: Ice cube tray and anything small enough to put in the tray.
It is up to the teacher. I used some Easter candy.

How many players: 6-8 players

How to play:

1. Divide the group into
2 teams.

2. Explain to the
students that one side of the tray is team one’s side and the other side is
team two’s side.

3. Hold up sight word
cards or phonics card and if they get it right, drop an item in their side of
the tray. If they do not get it right, skip that square.

4. Continue on until one
side of the tray is full, that team wins.

Modifications: The tray can be used with sight words, phonics, or even
math facts. It can also be adjusted by changing the item that is dropped in
the tray.

Gone Fishing

This game is called "Gone Fishing". I bought all of the materials from the Dollar Tree. It's really simple...but the kids LOVED it! I made word cards on the computer and attached the words with paper clips to paper fish. The students take turns
"fishing" in the bucket with a magnetic fishing pole. The student must sound out the word to keep the fish. If he/she is
unable to sound the word out, he/she returns the fish to the bucket. I also
put "MUD FISH" in the bucket. If a student catches a "MUD FISH" he/she has to return
all of fish back to the bucket. The student with the most fish is the winner.

The
word cards were created from Deck 23 in the Toolbox. It would be very simple
to change the words as the students master them.

Object of the game: To motivate students to
stay on task and do their best.

Directions: Divide students into 2 teams. The game can be used for any
section of the Jack & Jilly Reader. The teacher moves the frog every time the
students read, and when they are on task as others are reading. It can also
be used during phonics when the students read words correctly and stay on
task.

Materials: 12 Plastic eggs filled
with candy with sight words written on them and, sight word list per child,
marker per child.

Directions: Each child will hunt
12 eggs or whatever amount you determine. Each child’s eggs will have the
sight words that he/she is working on. Child will be given a list of words to
look for. The child may only pick up the eggs that are on his/her list. When
the child has picked up the word on list, he/she checks it off and goes to
another word on list. When all 12 eggs are checked off, then the child has
helped Jack and Jilly fill the Easter basket and will get a special prize.
Each child should have 12 different words in his/her basket.

Are
your students having trouble sound blending? If so, try the strategies
described below.

Note to teachers from Dr. Cupp:

If
you want 100% of your student to learn how to sound-blend, use onset and
rime. Period. Students should practice blending the short a sound
with consonants. Students should automatically be able to read the
following:

ab, ac, ad, af, ag, am, an, ap, as, at, av, az.

As
students learn to read each of the rimes listed above, then begin making new
words. For example: If the word is tap, students must make the /t/
sound first, and then the rime /ap/. The /ap/ must be pronounced smoothly
with no pause between the /a/ and /p/.

Common errors:

Problem – For
example: Student sounds out /t/ /ap/ and then says another word like cap
or map. Students may also just guess any word.

Solution – Place pictures of the
word the student will sound out on the table. For example: Place a picture
of a cat, rat, and bat on the table. Ask students to name the pictures after
you. When you are sure students know the names for the pictures, then show
them the word cat. Point to the word cat and tell students to
sound out the word cat. After the word is sounded out, the student
should point to the picture of the cat. Continue with students sounding out
words and matching the word with a picture or an object on the table.

Problem – Student sounds out /t/
/ap/ and then says pat. The student flips the last letter to the front
of the word.

Solution – Sit beside the
student and take the student’s left hand in your hand. Have the student point
to the word with his or her index finger of the left hand. As the student
sounds out the letters in the word tap, the student moves his or her
index finger under the letters. As soon as the letters are sounded, the
student moves his or her index finger back to the front of the word and “hits”
the first letter of the word with the index finger. This “hitting” of the
first letter causes the student to focus back on the beginning sound. It
works.

Game idea for little AlphaMotion®

I made this game board in about fifteen
minutes using the red Little AlphaMotion® Card deck. This game board may be
used in center time. Students can work independently to match the sound cards
with the letter cards.

Steps for the game board:

Place the sound
cards in six columns. I used four cards in the first four columns and six
cards in the last two columns. Glue these cards in place.

Use a permanent
marker and write the number found on the back of each card on the front of
each card. This allows students to check themselves.

Write the
column number at the top and bottom of each column.

Laminate the
game board.

How to play:

Students try to
match the yellow little AlphaMotion® cards with the red sound cards. All
yellow cards are placed on the board. Students then turn the cards over and
check to make sure the numbers match.

Students may
repeat the same matching game using the green little AlphaMotion® upper case
alphabet deck.

If students are
not ready to match sounds with letters, use this game for matching pictures
that are alike. Take another red little AlphaMotion® sound card deck and
students will match like red cards.

You may also create a game board using the
yellow or green decks. Students then match the yellow sound cards to the
correct letter on the game board(s).

Short vowels

Ginger Logue from
North Harlem Elementary demonstrated the following great way to help students
remember the short vowels during the AlphaMotion® Song. When the students sing
“Short A, Short A” or any of the short vowel names, the students bend their
knees and squat down a little as they say “Short A, Short A”. After doing the
modified squat twice as they say “Short A, Short A”, they go directly into
making the raised hand sign for Short A. This is fun to do, and the students
have another mnemonic device for remembering short vowel sounds.

Sound blending words – This information is VERY important!

If you have any students who cannot sound blend a
word, please follow these suggestions:

1. Students must be automatic on both the initial
consonant sound (onset) and the vowel and final consonant sound (rime or word
family). Example: If you want a student to sound out the word cat, the
student should automatically say /c/ /at/. If students are not automatic on
both the consonant sound and the “a” rime you want them to use when sounding
out the word, stop phonics instruction until students are automatic on both
the onset and rime.

2. It is very important that students automatically know
the “a” rimes. I have written a little song that will help students learn
these “a” rimes. See Section Six below– Teacher, Teacher- Teach Me to
Read™

3. The teacher will select a three-letter word beginning
with a consonant sound the student knows automatically. The word must contain
an “a” rime the student knows automatically as well. The student will
practice sound blending the onset and rime and then say the entire word
together. For example: /c/ /at/ /cat/.

4. As new consonant sounds and “a” rimes are introduced,
students MUST become automatic on these sounds and rimes before he or she
tries to use them in sound blending words.

Game – Vowels Rock

Students and teachers at Tyrone Elementary helped me refine this game. They
also helped me name the game. Preparation: Teachers will prepare a card deck
of three-letter words that have an “a” in the middle.
Example: cat bag man tap

Prior student knowledge: Students should know how to sound blend a word
with an “a” in the middle. Students should also know the short vowel sounds
automatically.

Steps:

1. The teacher holds up any word card with
a three-letter word containing a short “a” sound. The first student sounds the
word out. The teacher tells the student to pretend the “a” was erased and the
letter ___ was put in its place. The teacher names any of the other four
vowels. The student must be able to substitute the new vowel sound and say
the word. Example: The word shown is tap. The student sounds out the word
tap. The teacher then says, “Take out the ‘a’ and replace it with an ‘i’.”
The student must then be able to say tip.

2. If the student
answers correctly, the teacher says, “Short ‘i’ rocks.” The student then
turns to the child sitting next to him or her and names the next vowel. The
next child must then substitute the new vowel. If the student is correct, the
teacher responds with, “_____rocks.” The game continues until everyone has a
turn. If a child makes a mistake, the teacher helps the student say the word
correctly. The student corrects the error and continues with the game.

Portal Elementary School, Bulloch County

We are the Kindergarten teachers at Portal
Elementary School and we are really enjoying our first year of Jack and Jilly!
We have seen a lot of progress in our students this year with their abilities
to recognize letters, sounds, and sight words, as well as, beginning to read
at a much faster pace than our past years of teaching Kindergarten students.
We like the consistent drill and practice the readers give the students and
the excitement they get when trying to beat Hop’n Pop! A couple of ideas that
we added to the program are listed below. We hope these ideas are helpful to
you as they have been for us.

One idea that we
have used in addition to the Jack and Jilly readers is the use of word family
books. The students work on a word family three times a week by writing words
they create the first day, copying the words they created the second day, and
making up sentences using the word family words on the third day. We have
seen much progress with the students’ abilities to write and create sentences
of their own. The students really enjoy reading what they wrote to you as
well!

Say it, Use it
(variation) – Mrs. Finch’s Kindergarten

Every Friday,
each child has one minute on the timer to say the word on the flash card, then
make a sentence using it. If both are correct, the child is handed a craft
stick. When the timer goes off, the child counts the craft sticks he/she has
and the number is recorded on a class chart. We try to beat ourselves every
week!

Phonics/Spelling Games and Teaching Tips

1. Spelling Games – Spelling Bee - Revised

Students line up
in two lines. Team captains stand beside the board or chart paper to record
the score. The teacher calls out one word to the first student on Team A. If
this student attempts to spell the word, but does not spell it correctly, the
student earns one point for trying. The teacher spells the word correctly.
The student spells the word back to the teacher. The teacher then calls out a
word for the first student on Team B. If this student spells the word
correctly, Team B earns two points. Students earn one point for trying and
one point for spelling the word correctly. No student ever sits down until
the game is over. If anyone breaks a rule or talks out of turn, the teacher
directs the Team Captain to deduct two points from the score of the team
member that broke the rule.

2. Flip It

The teacher will
select Toolbox Cards from either Deck 33, 34, 35 or 36. Words selected should
be words the student understands. The teacher deals out a card to each child
in the group.

First round
– Each student attempts to sound the word out while only looking at the front
of the card. Students do not pick the card up and do no look to see how the
word is divided on the back. The cards must stay flat on the table.

The teacher
allows each child to take turns pronouncing his or her word. If the student
correctly pronounces the word, the student is given another card. If the
student misses the word, the teacher says, “Flip It.” Students who miss their
words should flip their cards over and work to pronounce the word correctly as
the teacher continues to move around the group.

Second round
– The teacher goes around the table again and each child pronounces his or her
word. If the student says the word correctly, the student gets a new word.
If the student misses the word, the teacher says, “Flip It.” If the word has
already been flipped and the student still misses the word, the teacher will
help the student until the student says the word correctly. The student then
receives a new card. Do Not Ever let a student hold a card for more
than two rounds. The student will become frustrated. Help students if they
missed the card on the first round and still could not get it on the second
turn.

2 Straight Quiet Lines:

Divide your small reading group into partners. Have them sit or stand in 2
straight quiet lines beside his or her partner. Flip a sight word over and
have the first pair of partners race to read the word. Continue “racing to
read” the words with the partners next in line. This game is also fun with the
whole class.

Sound Blending:

High/Low: Pass out five Cupp Cards to each child in the reading group.
Have each child read his or her top word. After each child has read one word,
have all of them roll their die. Then flip a High/ Low chip to see if
the low number or high number wins the round. If the chip lands on high, then
the highest number rolled wins the round. If the chip lands on low, then the
lowest number rolled wins the round. Continue with round 2 by reading Cupp
Cards and rolling the dice.

The Silent Game

Directions: The students know the hand signs for the AlphaMotion®
Cards. The teacher selects a word he or she is going to spell to the students
using AlphaMotion® hand signs.

Steps:

1. The teacher stands in
front of the class and makes the hand sign for the first letter in the
selected word. If the students know the letter name that is represented by
the hand sign the teacher has made, they give a thumbs-up sign to the
teacher. The teacher calls on one student to give the answer for the correct
letter name. The teacher writes this letter on the board or chart paper.

2. The teacher then
continues to give the hand signs for the other letters in the selected word.
The teacher stops after signing each letter and asks the students to give a
thumbs-up if they know the letter name. The teacher calls on one student to
give the correct letter. The letter is written on the board or chart paper
and the game continues until the word is spelled on the board.

3. The teacher then
leads the class in sounding out the word they have just spelled.

4. As students master
the skills needed for spelling, the teacher can sign the entire word and ask
students to spell it on their individual papers. For advanced students, the
teacher may sign the entire word and ask students to give a thumbs-up if they
know the word.

Special note: It is important to ask students to give a thumbs up
instead of just calling out the answer. Give slower students time to think
and give their thumbs up. Slower students will stop thinking and trying if
they know they will never be required to give a response.

Suggestions for Monitoring Phonics
Instruction

During the last
month, I have observed teachers following this plan for phonics instruction in
Readers 1-15.

a. The teacher
introduces the new phonics lesson.

b. The
paraprofessional works with students in the rotation to provide practice for
the students. The paraprofessionals record the students' responses on the
Form provided on the web page for Phonics Readiness Charts.

c. The teacher
monitors phonics progress by ending his or her fluency/comprehension
lesson with students demonstrating their phonics skills with the
appropriate chart.

d. Students are
moved to the next lesson when they know the sounds of the letters.
Students are not required to say the letter
names at this time. Students are not required to blend words until Reader 15.

Introducing "big" words
- Great fun!!

Once you have
reached Ten Minutes Phonics Lesson 3 in Reader 3, end each
phonics lesson by selecting a word from Deck 33 in the Toolbox. Deck 33 has
easy two or more syllable words. These are the steps I follow to introduce
"big" words to students:

a. Show students
the "big" word and tell them that big words are little words put together.

b. Use your
finger and show the students how to split the word in parts. At this time, I
ask the students to close their eyes. I tell them I am going to do something
magic....they usually giggle and shut their eyes. I turn the card around and
show them the backside of the card.

c. Students look
at the backside of the card and we sound out each syllable together. I then
say the syllables quickly. Usually at least one student can figure out the
"big" word.

The purpose of
beginning this early is to allow students to become comfortable with seeing
large words in text.

Sound blending

Question #1-
I teach 20 kindergarten students. Seventeen students easily sound-out unknown
three letter words. The other three students still struggle to blend the
sounds together to make a word. What can I do to help these three students
successfully learn to sound-out words?

Answer from
Cindy: There are many “fixes” for this problem, but students will need to
have the following skills mastered before they can successfully sound-blend
words:

Skill 1–
Students must understand that the little squiggly marks (letters) on the
page represent letters, letters represent sounds, and these sounds blend
together to make words that have meaning.

If your students
are automatically making the correct sounds for the letters, but they blend
these sounds and say a word that is nothing like the letter-sounds, these
students may not understand that these sounds represent a word. For example:
The student automatically makes the correct sounds for cat
and then says something “off the wall” like the word mother.

During inservice
training, I say these students “have not come to the well.” I use this phrase
because it calls to mind a scene from the movie The Miracle Worker.
This movie tells the story of Helen Keller’s life. Patty Duke plays the part
of Helen Keller. In The Miracle Worker, Helen finally makes the
connection between the word waterand the hand-sign for
water when water is being pumped on her hand. After Helen makes this
one connection with the word water, she transfers this
understanding to many other words. After “coming to the well,” Helen
understands that objects may be represented by hand-signs.

In order to help
students make the connection between letters on a page and words they
understand, I only ask students to sound-out real objects they can see. I use
either the object or a picture of the object. For example: If the student is
trying to sound-out cat, then I will have three pictures
in front of the student, one of these pictures will be a cat.

Before beginning
practice in sound blending, I ask all students to name the pictures I have
placed on the table in front of them. I repeatedly explain to the students
that they will be sounding-out words, but the words they are sounding-out must
have a picture on the table. If they then say cat,
they must show me a picture of a cat.

Until students
understand that the letters and sounds go together to make a word and the word
has meaning, they are merely going through the motions of doing what the
teacher asks them to do. Without understanding that print on the page
represents something else, students will have great difficulty benefiting from
further phonics instruction.

Skill 2 – Students must automatically
know the sounds in the word he or she is trying to sound-out. For example:
If students are trying to sound-out the word cat, and they can’t automatically
make the c and the at sound, then students need to
work on the sounds for cand the rime at.
I teach sound blending using onset and rime. My Readiness Manual in
Dr. Cupp Readers® gives details on using onset and rime. Students must be
able to pass the assessment in the Readiness Manual beginning on page
151.

Once students can
automatically make the sounds for the letters, and they understand that they
are making words, then we are ready to address other problems that students
often have in learning to sound-blend words.

Little tricks to help students sound-blend words

Hit the
Word – If a student is sounding out the word correctly and the
sounds are automatic, but then the student flips the letters so that the
last sound in the word is flipped to the front of the word, I ask students
to take their index finger and “hit” the front of the word before they say
the word. For example: The student sounds out tap
and then says pat. When students are asked to “hit” the first
letter in the word with their index finger, this draws the students’ eye
back to the front of the word and in many cases the students correctly say
the word.

A Pinch
of “A” – In order to teach sound blending, I use only three letter
real words with the short a sound in the middle. For
example: I use words like rat, cat, man, pan, hat, rag, lap, sat, bag, etc.

When students
have mastered Skills #1 and #2 described above, and they still have problems
blending the words together, I will ask them to keep saying the onset and rime
for the word. As they say the onset and rime, I will quietly give just a
“pinch” of the first two sounds. For example: If the student is saying cat,

cat, but they can’t seem to be able to blend the word, I will
quietly say ca.

I don’t say the
ending t sound. This helps some students make the connection
between the onset and rime.

Game – Vowels Rock

Students and teachers at Tyrone Elementary
helped me refine this game. They also helped me name the game.

Preparation: Teachers will prepare a card deck of three-letter words
that have an “a” in the middle.

Example: cat bag man tap

Prior student knowledge: Students
should know how to sound blend a word with an “a” in the middle. Students
should also know the short vowel sounds automatically.

Steps:

1. The teacher holds up any word card with
a three-letter word containing a short “a” sound. The first student sounds the
word out. The teacher tells the student to pretend the “a” was erased and the
letter ___ was put in its place. The teacher names any of the other four
vowels. The student must be able to substitute the new vowel sound and say
the word. Example: The word shown is tap. The student sounds out the word
tap. The teacher then says, “Take out the ‘a’ and replace it with an ‘i’.”
The student must then be able to say tip.

2. If the student
answers correctly, the teacher says, “Short ‘i’ rocks.” The student then
turns to the child sitting next to him or her and names the next vowel. The
next child must then substitute the new vowel. If the student is correct, the
teacher responds with, “_____rocks.” The game continues until everyone has a
turn. If a child makes a mistake, the teacher helps the student say the word
correctly. The student corrects the error and continues with the game.

Nina Pritchard and StudentsSeminole County Elementary School, Seminole
County, Georgia

This year I am an EIP Augmented kindergarten teacher, serving three
classrooms. We are implementing the 3-group rotation in these classes,
with each lasting for an hour and a half
daily. The only reading material I use in these classes it the Dr. Cupp
Program, Jack and Jilly. Many of the students had no concept of letters.
I used the alpha-motion cards along with the readiness manual. Once they
had mastered the letters for readiness, the
other letter names seem to fall in place, although they were still having
trouble matching upper and lower case letters. I printed the upper and
lower case letters on heavy paper and cut them out. I made several
copies and had the students match
them up. I also went to Jan Brett’s web page where I found very colorful
upper and lower case letters on little flags that I printed and glued on craft
sticks. The children liked this because the pictures were colorful and
different.
http://www.janbrett.com/index.html

My granddaughter is in kindergarten this year and many of the games I use were
developed to help her. She was having trouble with the onset rime, which
she doesn’t have to master until Reader 15,
but she just couldn’t get the concept. I printed the onset and rime and the
words on flash card paper. I cut these out and we played a game making as
many words as we could out of them. For example: the rimes at, an, am, ap;
the onsets: P,m,n,r,c,p,S; the words: Pam, Sam, can, ran, tan,
man, rat, cat, pat, mat, sat, cap, map, nap. She loved this and it
worked for her.

I made several copies and used it with my groups.
The like it, can match the onset
rime, and say the word. The
students then check to see if the word matches what they have
put together. I now do it with each ten-minute phonics lesson and throw
in some of the earlier lessons for
review.

Hop
on Words by Sandra Evans

This is a game that can be used to help students with blending and sounding
out words using onset and rime.
Objective: To help students become familiar with word families.

Materials: Game board made from
cardboard with pictures of frogs sitting on a lily pad or any type of animal
that you would like to use. Game pieces can be any type of plastic insect
that could be “eaten” by the frog.

Players: 3-6 players can be
accommodated.

How to Play: If the student can
blend 5 words using onset and rime in a specific word family they can move
their insect from lily pad to lily pad. As the student progresses with word
families you can add to the number of words required to move from lily pad to
lily pad. Whoever reaches the finish lily pad first is the winner. (All of
the students love just making it to the finish line regardless of who finishes
first.)

As
a special treat when a word family is achieved, students are given gummy
treats like worms to eat.

Cookies Anyone? by Rita
Wills

This game is a new face for our old favorite, the Race Car Game.

Objective: To introduce new
phonics skills and to assess these skills.

Materials:

Toolbox Card
Decks

Game Board

Game Pieces

The game board is simple to construct. Cut a poster board in half. Draw a
vertical line down the center of the board. Place ten sticker dots vertically
down each side of the board. You can use any materials you have readily
available. I used plastic cookies and plates. On St. Patrick’s Day, we used
gold coins and a pot. I think changing up the game pieces will keep the game
exciting and fun.

Players:

Divide your reading group into two teams.

How to Play:

1. Students take turns
sounding out words. Each team has a team leader who is in charge of moving
the game piece. If the student sounds out the word correctly, the game piece
is moved one dot.

2. If the student is
unable to sound out the word the teacher will help, but the game piece is not
moved.

3. If anyone breaks a
rule, the game piece is moved back one dot.

4. The first team to get
their cookie on the plate is the winning team.

Letter Leap by Sheryl
Gehle

This is a game to be used at the first of the kindergarten year for all
students or later in the year for struggling students.

Materials: Game board, markers and die (I found oversize dice at the
Dollar Tree which are great for little hands.)

Players: 2-3 students.

How to Play:

1. The student with the
name that comes last alphabetically goes first.

2. First player rolls
the die and moves his/her marker the number of spaces shown. If he/she cannot
name the letter, the letter marker is moved back to the starting point.

3. The next person has a
turn.

4. The goal is to roll
the die and be able to name the letter at that number of spaces. If the
letter is unknown or misnamed, the marker is placed back at the previous
marked space. The first one across the finish line wins.

Variation:

As a variation, letter sounds may be
substituted for letter names.

Gone
Fishing
by Myrna Bennett

Materials:
Onset and rime words or sight words, chips, and fish board. (Fish board
is a piece of poster board with different kinds of fish pictures on it.

How to Play:
Place onset and rime word cards down on the table bottom side up, student
draws from the top of the deck, and then pronounces the word on the card. If
the student gets the word right, they will add a chip to a fish that is on the
board. If they miss pronounce the word they do not get a chip. At the end of
the game, students add up how many chips they have on their fish.

Focus School –
Okipilco Elementary School, Moultrie, Georgia

Bunny
Blends

Materials: game
board, bunny game pieces, and treats.

Object of the Game:
Students recall words that have blends learned from Jack and Jilly Readers 44
& 45.

Directions: The students will
divide into 2 teams. Each team will have one person to move their rabbit. The
teams will take turns going first ( I let my team captains pick a number
between 1 and 10 to see which team goes first) . Each time a student moves
their bunny to an egg, they must think of a word with the blend that is on the
egg. If they are correct, they will get to move to the next egg (I ask the
student
to use their word in a sentence as a variation).

If the student can’t think of a word with
the blend in it, they lose a turn and remain on that egg. When it is that
teams turn again, the next person will say a word with that same blend. A team
cannot move to the next egg until a word has been made with each blend. The
teams will continue taking turns until a team gets to the end of the trail.
The winning team gets a chocolate egg!

Object of the Game:
Students will recognize where to break words into syllables to be able to read
the words.

Directions:
Divide students into 2 teams with a team captain for each team. The captains
will be in charge of moving the game pieces around the board. Students will
roll dice to see who goes first. Each student will read a multi-syllable
word. If he/she can read it the first time without turning the card over to
see it broken apart, then the captain can move 1 space and the student can
have 1 M&M candy. If that same student has to turn the card over to read the
word, then the captain cannot move 1 space, but that student may still have 1
M&M candy. The first team to get to the finish line wins and gets a bag of
M&M candy or some other trophy.

This game is very useful with other reading concepts that students need to
learn and practice.

Created By: Nada CoxOkapilco Elementary School- First Grade
M&M is a registered trademark.

Batter Up

Directions:
Students divide in two teams. (Red team & Blue team) Each team has a leader.
The team leader bats for all team members.

Teacher selects a word card from 1st base pocket and shows to the
first student at bat for Red team.
The student will take a swing by sounding the word out. If he/she sounds the
word correctly, the team leader moves player to 1st base and stays
there. If student can’t say the word or needs help, it is an automatic out and
student can’t advance to 1st base. Then a student from the Blue
team will step up to bat at the next word. If student sounds the correct word,
he/she will advance to 1st base. The game continues with each team
taking turns at bat. Each word said correctly, the players advance to next
base. The first team to make it across the plate first will win a free trip to
the concession stand (will get a treat).

Created By: Martha Hobbs
Okapilco Elementary

Mouthwatering Words

Dish up refreshing onset and rime
practice!

Label disposable bowls with rimes from the phonics section of the Jack and
Jilly Readers. Use ping pong balls (ice cream) for the onsets. Place the
ping pong balls in a clean empty ice cream carton. The students will use an
ice cream scoop to get the ping pong balls out of the carton. He or she will
place the scoop of ice cream (ping pong ball) in a bowl labeled with a rime
that forms a word with the onset. He or she will then read the word out loud
to the group. He or she can also make a complete sentence with the word.
How tempting!

The
students enjoyed playing this game. They loved their pretend ice cream and
got to practice making words!

Before the
lesson begins, the teacher shows the students the picture of Jack, Jilly and
Hop’n Pop making hand signs. The teacher writes the following on chart paper:

Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me Now.

Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me How?

Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me, Pop-It-To-Me WOW!

The
teacher “sings” the first line of the song, and the students sing the line
back.

The
teacher “sings” the second line of the song, and the students sing the line
back.

The teacher “sings” the third line of
the song, and the students sing the line back.

The
teacher then repeats the song. The students sing back each line to the
teacher.

The teacher
says, “Now, I am going to
teach you how to make a new hand motion at the end of each sentence. When you
say the word Now, I want you to make a fist with one hand and place it
in the palm of the other hand.” Students will make their fists look like
periods. "This hand sign looks like a period. We place a period at the
end of a sentence."

“Now, when we sing the word
How, I want you to shrug your shoulders and make your hands go palm up.”
Students look like they don't know the answer when someone asks them a
question. "This hand sign means we have asked a question. We place a
question mark at the end of a sentence that is a question."

“Now, when we sing the word
WOW, I want you to raise one arm like you are saying YES!”
Students will look like exclamation marks. "This hand sign will be
used at the end of a sentence to show we are excited about what we have said."

The teacher and
students repeat the song with the hand motions. The teacher then leads in a
game called The Punctuation Game. The teacher will make up a sentence
and then use the correct hand sign to punctuate the sentence. Students will
take turns making up sentences and then giving the hand sign for the
punctuation that will end the sentence.

Semantic Feature Analysis

Graphic
Organizers – Semantic Feature Analysis

Semantic Feature
Analysis can be a fun way to visually show students how people or characters
are alike and different. This sample Semantic Feature Analysis will also
introduce the terms noun and adjective.

The teacher
introduces this lesson by saying, “Boys and girls, today I want you to help
me make a chart showing how we are all alike in some ways and different in
other ways. I am going to write everyone’s name on this chart.” Students
will continue to add adjectives to the chart until every child has a different
score.

Semantic Feature
Analysis

Describes person

Name of
person

tall

short

blonde

hair

brown

hair

black

hair

blue eyes

brown eyes

Cindy

-

+

-

+

-

+

-

T.J.

+

-

+

-

-

+

-

Tasha

Maria

Slap Down Game

One
of the students’ favorite games is what we call the “slap down game” (students
named this game). I started with the students’ names. I have six in most of
my groups, so I printed each child’s name six times or however many were in
the group. I gave each child a set with a set for me. I call out a child’s
name and slap the card face town on the table. Each child slaps the card I
call out face down. On three we turn the cards over to see if we are right.
If a child does not get the right card, they can then find the one that
matches the rest of ours. I started with names of the children so they would
be successful and understand that letters make words. After a few days of
this, I introduced the words, Jack, Jilly, can, and play. We used the letter
cards to match upper and lower case to spell out these words. We used the
cheer cards to see how to spell these words. They love the cheer cards. I
tell them that when I grow up, I want to be a cheerleader and that I need
their help in learning the cheers. Now we are ready to play the “slap down
game” with the new words from Jack and Jilly. I use this for every reader.
Some groups do not need this so we skip it, while others need it over and
over.

When they have mastered the words
we make sentences out of the cards. For example: Jack can play. Also, I
made a large question mark, period, exclamation mark, and comma. We talk
about these and used them at the end of the sentences we make.

Listening Comprehension and Oral Language

Reading Board Games

This is a fun way to integrate reading skills with
thematic units or parents can use purchased game boards to play with their
child.

Materials:

Poster board to make game
with or previously purchased game such as Candy Land, Sorry, Trouble, etc.

Flashcards with letters,
words or any other skill

Game pieces, dice, etc.

How to play:This game is played like any typical board game. Roll the dice; make your
move, read your card. First one that gets to the end is the winner.

The Picnic Game

This is great for listening skills and beginning, ending
sounds, blends, and vowels.

Materials: None

How to
play: I am going on a picnic and I am going to take…

For Example: I am
going to take a ball, basket and bat. If you want to go what will you take? (
Child must say a word that begins with b.)

If child says something
that goes with the skill, they can go.

Robot Talk

Skill- Auditory closure

Materials: None

How to
play: Tell the children that you are a
robot and you are trying to learn to speak like people and that you need help.
Drag your words would and have them tell you what you are trying to say. Ex.
T-a-g- Tag.

Sound It Out, Say It Slow, Read It

Skill- helps to bridge the gap from sounding out
to reading words.

Materials: Flashcards with words that
can be sounded out on it.

How to
play: Show the word card

Have the children- sound
it out, say it slow, read it.

Mystery Word

Skill-decoding

Materials: Chalkboard and chalk

How to
play: Write a big word that can be
sounded out on the board. Talk the children through decoding the word by
breaking it into the small nonsense parts that they can read. Sound it out
slow, read the word.

Ex. Fantastic

F-an t-as t-ic, fan tas
tic, fantastic

Look for Letters - Look for Words

Skills- word and letter recognition

Materials: Nothing

How to
play: While riding in the car, look for
signs with each letter or a word for each letter on it. First one to go
through the alphabet wins.

If you are a
teacher using Dr. Cupp Readers® & Journal Writers and you would
like to have your suggestions or ideas posted in the Monthly Newsletter, please
send them to Cindy Cupp at cindycupp@mindspring.com